Four men beheaded by suspected al Shabaab militants in Kenya

Suspected militants from the jihadist group al Shabaab have beheaded four men in two different attacks in northern Kenya’s coastal Lamu County on Wednesday, authorities have said .

This incident adds to two of similar cases in the region. 12 people were killed in the first incident in August.

Lamu County Commissioner, Gilbert Kitiyo, said the attacks took place in Silini-Mashambani and Bobo villages where about 30 heavily-armed assailants went from house-to-house calling out victims by name before pulling some out and slitting their throats.

“They were dressed in military gear and had AK-47 rifles. They beheaded four men before fleeing into the forest. All the victims are men. Police have already arrived at the scene and taken the bodies to the mortuary,” Kitiyo told Reuters.

He said the attackers surrounded all the victims’ houses making it difficult for them to escape.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Kitiyo said the attacks bore the hallmarks of al Shabaab.

In August, al Shabaab attackers killed four men in a similar manner while earlier in July, nine men were slaughtered the same way in nearby villages.

After the latest attacks, protesters burnt tyres on the roads on Wednesday morning in complaint over insecurity. Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them.

A government-imposed dusk-to-dawn curfew is in force in the area following past attacks.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab aims to topple Somalia’s United Nations-backed government and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam. They have intensified attacks in Kenya since it sent troops into Somalia in 2011.

They have also claimed responsibility for a series of cross-border attacks in recent months, including a spate of roadside bombings targeting security forces.

In July, al-Shabaab was accused of beheading nine people in another village in Lamu County and stepped up attacks in East African country in recent weeks.

The al-Qaeda-linked group has vowed retribution after Kenya sent troops across the border to Somalia in 2011 to fight the group, which last year became the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa.